6,5 mio. S.kr. for social entrepreneurial initiative.

Ester Barinaga (BA, MBA, PhD) is Associate Professor at MPP, Copenhagen Business School has just received 6,5 mio. Skr. For ‘Förorten i Centrum’ (literally translated as “the suburb at the center”) - A local social entrepreneurial initiative that uses the production of public mural art through community collaboration to catalyze a new sort of social movement that changes the reputation of the suburbs as well as social relations in it.

The project aims at supporting youngsters in the suburbs by building a platform for dialog and collaboration with other young people both in the suburbs and beyond the borders of suburbia. To achieve this, murals are used as a tool to strengthen the creativity of young people and raise the suburban social cohesion, which then results in the development of young local role models. “Suburbs at the center” creates platforms and young people drive them. This means that the project provides local, material, as well as artistic leadership while the youth organizes, thinks and paint the murals.

The initiative has been funded by the Swedish Inheritance Fond (Allmänna Arvsfonden) and will run from 2011-2013.A first case study on the start of the organization and its life up to this moment has recently been published (this week!). Link to the published case study here

Read more about the project: http://www.forortenicentrum.org/